“Playing football is very simple, but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is” Johan Cruyff 1947 - 2016

Saturday, January 31, 1976

Ipswich Town FC

Ipswich Town 1 Tottenham Hotspur 2 - Football League Division One

The
town of Ipswich took shape in Anglo-Saxon times as the main centre
between York and London for North Sea trade to Scandinavia and the
Rhine. Before that, under the Roman Empire, the area was busy as the
Orwell and Gipping formed an important route inland to rural towns and
settlements. The largest villa in Suffolk stood at Castle Hill.
Occupation of the region around Ipswich and the rivers had been
continuous since the Stone Age, but the settlement at Ipswich itself
belongs to the Roman period and after.

Hot
on the heels of the trip to Stoke the previous weekend, it was back in
the Dormobile for the relatively short journey to Ipswich. Once again
Spurs were well supported at Portman Road and we crammed
into the tightly packed visitors terrace behind the goal. Both sets of
players elected to wear alternative footwear as conventional boots were
not an option on the frozen surface.

Bobby
Robson’s Town side was developing into a fine team, capable of playing
effective and entertaining football. Although they never won the League
Championship that their early promise suggested (emulating the Ramsey team of the early 60’s would have been fitting – Ed), they were to go on to win both the FA and UEFA Cups in the subsequent years.

The
team facing Spurs that day will be familiar to many - Cooper, Burley,
Mills, Talbot, Hunter, Beattie, Woods, Osborne, Johnson, Whymark and
Lambert. However, it was Spurs that adapted better to the conditions
that day. A Keith Osgood penalty and a goal from Ralph Coates proved
sufficient to take the points, Dave Johnson replying for Town in front
of 24,019 crowd.